Guidelines Sheet - Series on the Verbum Dei Sources of Spirituality: 10-14 June, 2024

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This week, we continue to pray with Mary. She is our mother who continues to accompany us in our daily following and patiently forges in us a missionary heart like hers.
 
Her presence will accompany our laborious missionary journeys sustained by a living and proven faith and the joy of a strong redemptive love. She fosters in our VDMFa the sense of her spiritual and apostolic fruitfulness, forming Jesus in us and in our brothers and sisters. (Identity and Mission of VDMFa)
 
As we continue to pray on Mary’s role in our discipleship, let us also ask the Holy Spirit for the grace to grow in relationship with her, to be close to her just as how close Jesus is to her.

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MONDAY (JUNE 10)
John 2:1-12

“When the wine was gone, Jesus’ mother said to him, “They have no more wine.” “Woman, why do you involve me?” Jesus replied. “My hour has not yet come.”His mother said to the servants, “Do whatever he tells you.” (John 2:3-5)

Our practice of asking Mary’s intercession comes from her role on the first public miracle that Jesus did in the wedding at Cana. Though not yet His time, Jesus performed the miracle of turning water into wine at the request of her mother. This request came from her sensitivity to notice the needs of the bride and groom.

In our life, while we rejoice in having a mother who knows our needs and intercedes for us to the Father, we are also invited to learn from Mary her same sensitivity. Many times, we lose our sensitivity when we are carried away by our own needs and when we focus only on our own struggles and challenges.
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In our prayer, let us ask Mary to forge in us that same sensitive heart. Perhaps we won’t be able to solve the concerns of others, but we could offer to them a priceless and precious gift – our prayer. Let us be each other’s intercessor and prayer warrior in our journey of discipleship.
Who do you want to pray for today? Offer to that person not only this time of prayer, but also all that you will live today and trust that your offering is blessing and bringing miracle to that person.

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TUESDAY (JUNE 11)
John 19:25-27

“Near the cross of Jesus stood his mother, his mother’s sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene.”(John 19:25)
 
From her womb to the cross, Mary accompanied Jesus in the important moments of His life. She did not run away even from the reality of pain, grief, sorrow, and perhaps, disappointment. Mary knows for whom she is standing there at the foot of the Cross – for God and His people.

Perhaps in our journey of discipleship, we also have experienced the same in our community. We felt pain and disappointment. And we might experience it again and again because we are not a perfect community. But our hope is to find ourselves standing up again and going back again to our community of faith convinced of the reason of our following with the help of our Mother.

“..Thousand times we fall and get up, other times our weaknesses block us, or the falls that drown us, Mary keeps watch beside us waiting for our resurrection. And in the traumas of our life and of our brothers and sisters, we experience her gentle and strong, welcoming and firm hand..” (Statues of the FMVD no. 238)

In those moments, we can count on our Mother. Let us ask her to forge in us a heart filled with inner strength to go beyond painful experiences in order to stand up for God and the people He entrusted to us – our family, community, workmates, etc.
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Today, think of a person/people who perhaps is/are passing through difficult situations. Stand with that person at the foot of the cross by asking our Mother to intercede for that person/people’s needs and concerns.

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WEDNESDAY (JUNE 12)
Acts 1:14

“They all joined together constantly in prayer, along with the women and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brothers.” (Acts 1:14)

After the ascension of Jesus, Mary continued to accompany the first Christian community. She joined them in constant prayer and fellowship.
Mary is our mother who forges in us a prayerful heart and gathers us in prayer as one community.

“Mary, the first contemplative person of all history has had a very important role in Verbum Dei in the process and in the rhythm of our life of prayer as in the configuration and growth of the ecclesial Fraternity.” (Statues of the FMVD no. 260)

While it is true that prayer is something personal and we can pray anywhere, praying as one community is also an essential aspect of our personal and communitarian growth in our discipleship. That is why in our community, we have different means where we can gather as one family to pray together - retreats, Spiritual exercises, School of the Word, etc.
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How do you take those means personally? Do you take it for granted? Or you take it as an opportunity to be configured in Christ personally and as a community? Why do you think praying with community is necessary?

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THURSDAY (JUNE 13)
Luke 1:38-40

“At that time Mary got ready and hurried to a town in the hill country of Judea, where she entered Zechariah’s home and greeted Elizabeth.” (Luke 1:39-40)

After receiving the news of the pregnancy of her cousin Elizabeth, Mary got ready and hurried to the place of her cousin.
Mary’s gesture and movement transmits to us a sense of urgency. As Verbum Dei, our authentic life of prayer never fails to open our eyes to the urgency of mission of evangelization.

Once the Gospel of Jesus is assimilated, it radiates and spreads with spontaneity, joy and missionary urgency. "We cannot stop speaking about what we have seen and heard…" (VDMD Regulations no. 17)

“The current realities of injustice, technological advances, and new social and ecological challenges open us to a renewed urgency for evangelization and the need to learn to live in a world that is constantly changing.” (Identity and Mission of the VDMFa no. 58)

What urgent mission you recognize in your own family, workplace, and in our community? Do you take initiatives or you fall in complacency? Do you take actions or you simply complain?
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Let us ask our Mother to forge in us a heart that responds with urgency to the needs we see around us.

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FRIDAY (JUNE 14)
Luke 1:48-49​

“.. for He has been mindful of the humble state of his servant. From now on all generations will call me blessed, for the Mighty one has done great things for me, holy is His name.” (Luke 1:48-49)
 
This passage is part of Mary’s Magnificat. We give special attention to verse 48 where Mary expressed with confidence the transcendence of the great things God has done for her to all the generations.
 
What about us? Do we believe in the transcendence of our life when we allow God to work in us? Are we aware how our simple yes could give life to many generations? Many times, we do not see the fruit of our self-giving. Sometimes, it is difficult to believe that our offering is giving life to the Body of Christ.
 
Let us ask our Mother to forge in us a heart that believes in the transcendence of our lives. When we are faithful to what God is asking from us, surely, it will bear fruit in our own life and in the life of many.
 
Today, take time to notice how your faith and options is forming your own children, siblings, or loved ones close to you.

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PRAYER FOR THE CONGRESS
To be held in Loeches, Spain from August 30 – September 27, 2024

“Communion, Consecration and Participation in the Mission"

Father, you who create and sustain all things with your love, we ask you to make us artisans of communion, so that as we journey towards the Congress we may know how to welcome the diversity that characterises us as the Verbum Dei Missionary Family.
 
Jesus, human face of God, consecrate us to your Word so that the Congress may be prepared and carried out in profound fidelity to your voice, listening to each one of us and to the signs of the times.
 
Holy Spirit, you who open rivers in the desert, guide us in this time of discernment and decision, so that we may live, embody and offer our charism ever more fully, so that all the baptised may participate in the mission of Jesus entrusted to the Church.
 
Accompany us, Mary, with your loving motherly presence and intercession, so that this Congress may be a channel of hope in which God transforms us and makes all things new. Amen.